How bungling and bureaucratic social workers are putting children's lives at risk

By STEVE DOUGHTY

Last updated at 22:43 14 February 2008

Some social workers are so bad at their jobs that they are putting children's lives in danger, a Whitehall watchdog found yesterday.

It accused those operating in the family courts of overlooking abusive behaviour by parents and ignoring the views of children.

The report by Government inspectors added that they are obsessed with bureaucracy but rely on files which are incompetently written and missing vital information.

Instead of acting swiftly over cases of potential harm, social workers were either dealing with irrelevant matters or taking an over-optimistic view of families, the education standards watchdog Ofsted found.

It said that even one of their own managers described the standards of family court social workers as "dangerous".

One report on an 11-year-old girl was chiefly concerned with her feelings about when she would have her first period.

Another, on an 11-month-old baby, recorded that the child "is too young to appreciate the political significance of his circumstances".

The verdict on Cafcass - the organisation of social workers who look after the 100,000 vulnerable children every year who appear in family court cases - is the first-ever independent report on the body, its staff and its standards.

The findings cover the East Midlands region, but Cafcass managers have been told they should regard yesterday's report as applying across the country.

The disclosures come at a time of growing controversy over the operation of the family courts and the cordon of secrecy which surrounds them.

The policy of holding hearings behind closed doors has been challenged by fathers' rights campaigners, but the report found that many youngsters are also unhappy with the current system.

Ofsted said that a third of children consulted said they were dissatisfied with Cafcass.

The report accused the organisation of complacency and an obsession with bureaucracy, and declared its performance to be inadequate.

It found "many serious failures in its core role of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children".

Inspectors said they had to take immediate action to protect children in seven cases where they found that court social workers had failed to do anything. One group did nothing about reports that a child had suffered a fractured skull.

And despite the service's reliance on bureaucracy and files, reports were badly reasoned and short on facts.

Some had "poor grammar, factual mistakes or significant typographical errors" and confidential files were kept in an unlocked cabinet in a public waiting area.

Cafcass was set up in 2001 as part of the campaign to try to prevent a repeat of the Victoria Climbie scandal.

Eight-year-old Victoria was murdered by her great-aunt and her boyfriend in 2000, after being entrusted to their care.

Social workers, doctors, police and a charity failed on at least 12 separate occasions to help her.

Cafcass has 2,300 staff, including 1,600 social workers called "family court advisers".

These deal with children caught in custody disputes, and care and adoption cases.

The organisation's chief executive Anthony Douglas responded to the report yesterday, saying: "I take responsibility for the criticisms in the report and I take responsibility for ensuring that Cafcass improves.

"Our work is not easy but we have the resources, the desire and the capacity to effect real change."

But Nick Barnard of pressure group Families Need Fathers said: "As long as it remains tied to the secretive and inconsistent family court system, it will always be poised to fail a large number of those it is intended to serve.

This is particularly true for parents seeking to retain a relationship with their children after divorce or separation."

Jill Kirby, of the centre-right think tank Centre for Policy Studies, added: "This is a damning report which shows Cafcass cannot cope with even basic procedures.

"They are concentrated on bureaucracy, diversity and performance targets."